Visionary Comics recently published a series of Deadlands comic one-offs and is now kickstarting a graphic novel about Raven himself. The following interview with Visionary Comics Chief Creative Officer C. Edward Sellner talks about how they got there and what their plans are. Q: How did you get involved in the Deadlands universe?
A:We were really fortunate on that front. Author Nate Meyer, a friend and client, had approached Pinnacle about doing prose books based on Deadlands, and when Shane Hensley expressed interest in that, Nate also mentioned, "well, I know these guys that do comics" and the rest just fell into place. We jumped at the chance to pickup the license, so we partnered with Nate and worked out the license deal for the comics and prose.
Unfortunately, Nate has had to pull back, but Visionary has moved forward with the license and is continuing to expand on it as we go.
Q: How connected to the RPG backstory are the Deadlands comic books?
A:Our first wave of books was really testing the water, showing what we could produce as a studio, both in terms of general quality and specifically quality Deadlands books. We chose to do four one-shots to showcase some of the various major arenas and settings of the Deadlands world and do it with different creative teams to make each book stand on its own, but also make each very much Deadlands.
Now that we hit those out of the ballpark, we've been given permission to really dig into the meat of the Deadlands universe and we do that with this next series. Raven is the architect of the Reckoning, the major event that changed history and 'created' the alternate history of Deadlands, by unleashing supernatural evil into the world.
After this, we've lined up series based on each of the other major villains of Deadlands, Stone, Grimme and Hellstromme. Between them they are either behind, or integral to each of the major movements of this world, so at the end, we'll have the epic tale of the Deadlands world, from the Reckoning to the Rail Wars.
Q: What is your goal with this Deadlands kickstarter?
A: We want to produce top notch material and the fans have shown they want to be involved. Kickstarter is a great model to fund projects, but beyond that, its a great way to let the fans invest in the book, in ways far beyond the money.
Deadlands is an RPG game, and what better way to make the comics more fun, then to let the gamers help make it happen. We have a number of levels that will allow investors to be involved in the story, have their characters face Raven himself, and get killed! So, its very exciting.
It's also a great promotional tool as the campaign itself builds interest and a buzz and allows those who want to be in on the ground floor. Deadlands Noire blew the doors off their campaign, and we figured that was a good path to follow in.
Q:Will there be more Deadlands books to come?
A: Yep, the aforementioned series on each of the of the major villains. We are also setting up the first full mini-series for the Deadlands version of Billy the Kid, who has gotten a lot of positive response from fans and Shane Hensley himself.
Q: What does Shane Hensley, the creator of Deadlands think of all the comic work?
A: He's loving it. Its been awesome to work with him. He's incredibly supportive, very much behind what we're doing and very involved. He's had direct input on story and art, helping to stage the Raven series, and is our biggest fan.
Q: You guys were just at GenCon. How was that? Anything interesting to report?
A: GenCon was wonderful! It's always great to get together with the whole Pinnacle gang. we sold a ton of our Dead Man's Hand Trade, collecting the first books we released, and generated a lot of interest in Raven and the Kickstarter. It's also fantastic to connect with all the fans of the world, folks who've come to truly love the setting and its potential.
Q: Where do things stand with the kickstarter?
A: We are rolling along. As I write this we are just shy of halfway to our goal in a third of our time to run the campaign. We just unlocked big ticket items for fans to be more involved in the story, so we know that will take off. But even more important, we've been in great dialogue with the fans. A ton of our European friends have ordered the original books, and folks are having fun, which is what it's all about.
Q: Anything else you'd like to share?
A: Yes, lots, like all the neat stuff we're doing in Raven, how we're telling his story, how we'll be blowing people's minds, how we're going to unleash the Reckoning like its never been done...but I can't. That's all secret you know.
So let me just say, check out our KickStarter, and our main site for all our other great comics, and know plenty more are coming down the path!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/470321830/deadlands-raven-graphic-novel
